A Cyclic Psychic: The Ups and Downs of Alakazam

Hello, everyone! You know, it really does feel better to release on a semi-monthly basis rather than every 2.5 months (or sometimes three months, uh!), wouldn't you say? Anyhow, we've tried to cover a bit of everything with issue #30, and we've been trying to keep things in balance that way lately. As usual, shout-out to our cover artist for this installment of the Smog, Rocket Grunt! Stunning artwork, mate. All in all, it's been a great issue. And I'm also happy to announce that we're having Flora and skylight join the Staff team over the coming days! As I mention in my Note from the Editor, they both have been killin' lately and we couldn't be happier with having them onboard. Congrats!

As usual, it's been awesome working with all of our contributors who came together to make this happen. Thank you!

We, of course, welcome your constructive feedback. You can leave that below and be sure to come back for the poll that will (probably) show up here within the next few days. As always, if you would like to write or draw for the Smog, give us a pitch in the Article Approvals subforum.

Thanks for interviewing me and sandz~ And nice work on hitting #30, everyone!! Definitely something to be proud of. As for Flora and skylight, I'm sure you'll make great staff, congrats on your promotion. n_n

Moderator

I joined Smogon a year and two days ago, and I have to say I'm very glad I was able to contribute something before that year was up (articles were done about a week ago). Especially considering this is the last issue before XY, it definitely feels like I managed to get in right before the floodgates opened or something.

I'm new to this, and it was a blast and truly a pleasure writing for The Smog for the very first time. It was really great, the staff was super helpful and all of the people were really fun to be around. I definitely think The Smog is the best community on Smogon; everyone in The Smog crew is so nice, helpful, sweet, kind, funny, etc. (even macle :p)

I'm also very flattered that my article made it on the cover! Thanks! Honestly, I don't think I could've possibly thought of a better topic for my first article, considering it's really about what brought me here in the first place!

I'm gonna stop before I start tearing up like a loser :p Thanks everyone for making this such a great experience. I definitely plan to be doing more in the future. :)

I've loved everything I've read so far, though I do have a question about the Mega Evolutions article. Why are there boatloads of speculated Mega Evolutions (Weavile, Milotic, Arbok, etc.) while some actual MegaEvolutions were left out? Ampharos, Blastoise, Venusaur, and the two Mewtwo Mega Evolutions are things I would've liked to see previewed. Just oversight?

Fellow bh players, we must take to the streets! Imanalt to the guillotine.

Do you hear the people sing?Singing a song of angry men?It is the music of a peopleWho will not be represented by Imanalt again!You don't use stealth rock on a magic bounce wallThat regigigas set really sucked ballsIllusion Slaking is hereby dissaprovedChansey should have more than one move!

That aside, I really enjoy the smog. Flavor articles are kind of what I like because I always want to debate against the competitive ones. The alakazam article was a good read :)

I've loved everything I've read so far, though I do have a question about the Mega Evolutions article. Why are there boatloads of speculated Mega Evolutions (Weavile, Milotic, Arbok, etc.) while some actual MegaEvolutions were left out? Ampharos, Blastoise, Venusaur, and the two Mewtwo Mega Evolutions are things I would've liked to see previewed. Just oversight?

I've loved everything I've read so far, though I do have a question about the Mega Evolutions article. Why are there boatloads of speculated Mega Evolutions (Weavile, Milotic, Arbok, etc.) while some actual MegaEvolutions were left out? Ampharos, Blastoise, Venusaur, and the two Mewtwo Mega Evolutions are things I would've liked to see previewed. Just oversight?

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I tailored it around viability in OU mostly, because otherwise the article could have gone on infinitely.

I did initially have Blastoise on there when I thought it was going to have Rain Dish, but then it was revealed with the Mega Launcher Ability. Problem is, Blastoise is never going to be an adequate sweeper and the offensive boosts aren't good enough. Ampharos is too slow to be an effective Dragon, and Thick Fat Venusaur is a cool idea, but I don't think it will find nearly as much utility as Chlorophyll Venusaur now that Sludge Bomb is going to be an even more relevant STAB than it is now.

I left Mewtwo out because it would necessarily be Uber, where Blaziken might not be in Gen V, and its unlikely to start that way.

I really enjoyed seeing a streaming section. I have actually streamed Pokemon showdown on twitch a few times and I also agree that it is the best platform for streaming currently. Something I would like to add is the use of overlays.Using Obs makes it very east to set up overlays and other images for your broadcast. Making things like the Smogcast and broadcasts in general look better is simple using OBS and twitch so i highly recommend that people use it

Ah thanks for the reply Deck Knight, I was thinking the article was about Mega Evolutions in general, not just OU viability. I was hoping I'd get to see my beloved Fabio Ampharos covered but yeah you're probably right. Never know though! Thanks again.

I'm very happy to have had this opportunity to contribute, and I look forward to writing more for the smog in the future. This issue was incredible and it's awesome knowing I had a small part in it. ^_^